“We continue to look forward to results of investigation”: US State Department on Pannun case

Washington, DC [US], April 4 (ANI): The US Department of State reiterated on Wednesday its commitment to conduct a full investigation into the alleged foiled assassination plot against India designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and said that they have made it clear to the Indian government to do the same.

In the daily press briefing of the US State Department, when being asked if the US received a report of India’s internal investigation in the case, US Department of State official spokesperson, Mathew Miller, denied sharing any details and asserted that they are looking forward to the results of the investigation on the Indian side.

“So I’m not going to speak to media reports. I will just say that we have made clear to the Government of India that we want to see them conduct a full investigation, and we continue to look forward to the results of that investigation, but I don’t have any updates to offer,” Miller said.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is an India-designated terrorist who holds American and Canadian citizenship. He has repeatedly issued threats against India.

Earlier, in an interview with ANI, US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti acknowledged that India and the United States are working together in the investigation of the alleged foiled assassination plot against Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

He, however, also emphasized that a ‘red line’ should not be crossed and no government employee of any country can be involved in an assassination plot of a foreign citizen.

“I think that’s absolutely critical. For any of us, just abstractly, that has to be a red line. No government or government employee can be involved in the alleged assassination of one of your own citizens. That’s just an unacceptable red line,” Garcetti had said.

Further referring to the ongoing investigation into the alleged plot to assassinate Pannun, Garcetti said that the fact that New Delhi and Washington are working together to hold those behind criminal action, shows how strong and close the India-US relationship currently is.

“Any country, having an active member of their government involved in a second country trying to assassinate one of their citizens. That’s, I think, usually a red line for any country. That’s a basic issue of sovereignty. That’s a basic issue of rights,” he added.

In response to the US envoy’s comments EAM S Jaishankar on April 1 had said that the case was being investigated based on information provided.

“The US ambassador, as an ambassador, will say what he thinks is the position of his government. The position of my government is that in this particular case, there has been certain information provided to us that we are investigating, Jaishankar said while addressing a press conference in the national capital.

As per the US Justice Department indictment, an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, who is currently in custody, has been charged with the murder-for-hire of Pannun. The US Justice Department had claimed that an Indian government employee, who was not identified in the indictment filed, had recruited Gupta to hire a hitman to allegedly assassinate Pannun, which was foiled by US authorities.

The US envoy also appreciated that India had set up an inquiry commission to look into the matter. (ANI)